


Release a Man for Combat

by babydraco



Series: Wildest Dreams [5]
Category: Captain America (Comics), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Dom/sub Undertones, F/M, Female Bucky Barnes, Military Uniforms, Period-Typical Sexism, Rule 63, Sub Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-24
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-04-27 19:48:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5061697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babydraco/pseuds/babydraco
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A prequel to my fem!teen!comics!Bucky series.  Corporal Jemma Buchanan Barnes arrives at her first overseas assignment and nobody wants her around.  But everything changes when handsome Captain Rogers picks her for his special new unit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

As her immediate superior, Sergeant Duffy had taken to making Bucky's life hell since she'd arrived on the Allied base in the northern English countryside in the pouring rain. He wasn't the only one. While many men thought there was something deviant about women who wanted to fight, some male soldiers resented the idea of the Women's Army Corps taking over the non combative jobs, since not all men who signed up for the military had intended to actually do any fighting. First, no one seemed to be expecting her or have much interest in directing her to anyone who knew what she was supposed to be doing. Bucky was used to things being a lot more orderly but everyone seemed generally frantic and excited about something else, some other new, more important visitor. Sergeant Duffy just showed her to a shabby office with two old desks in it. 

“File these,” he snapped, dumping a bunch of overstuffed folders on the desk and walking off. Bucky blamed the long journey and her lack of sleep on her hastily suppressed desire to burst into tears. She dutifully worked the rest of the day, taking breaks for unappetizing meals, which were cold by the time she got to them, and watery coffee. Realizing by nightfall that no one was coming back to see how she was doing, or to direct her to a bed, Bucky curled up on an ancient couch and slept using her uniform jacket as a blanket. She had a wonderful dream about going on a picnic with Gary Cooper, who let her lay with her head on his knees. He petted her hair. The sandwiches he made were excellent and he didn't complain about how many she ate. 

“Hey, sleepyhead,” a male voice murmured. She thought she was still dreaming, because the man who'd woken her was gorgeous. He was the goddamn handsomest man she'd ever seen, with soft looking blond hair, warm and intelligent blue eyes, full lips, a strong, chiseled jawline, and muscles that probably had their own muscles. But she was awake, and he was real, and Gary Cooper's knees were just the armrest of the couch. 

“I was afraid you were dead,” he said, flashing a movie star smile. Despite how woozy the smile made her, Bucky struggled to sit up, and she hurriedly smoothed out her uniform when she noticed his Captain's bars. 

“I was just tired because I got in late, sir!” Did her uniform shirt have a coffee stain on it? Did she have _eye gunk_?

“Are they already overworking you, or did no one find you quarters?” he asked. He sounded really genuinely concerned. 

“A little of both, sir?” Bucky admitted. “Uh. Captain. I-”

“Relax,” he said. “I threw things into chaos when I came back last night, this is all my fault. Freshen up, and come get breakfast with me, because I'm not putting up with the men being rude to you.”

He probably could have said “come jump off a cliff with me” and Bucky would have gone. Instead, because she wasn't stupid and she wasn't going to fall for that, letting a guy do a favor for her just so she'd have to scratch his back later, Bucky tried to turn him down. 

“I can figure it out on my own, sir,” she replied. When they were both standing, she had to look up, because he was about six foot three, and Bucky Barnes was already not a particularly tall woman. He smiled that dazzling smile again, it was infectious, Bucky couldn't stop the flirtatious smirk that formed on her own lips.

“And I wasn't making a request,” he said. “ Every soldier on this base needs to be properly accounted for, and the men need to see that you're not going away.” 

“My dad always said there was no accounting for me,” Bucky joked. The Captain looked puzzled.

“Is he an accountant?”

“No,a Major,” Bucky said. “ _Was _one. He's been gone a few years.”__

__“I'm sorry,” he said. Bucky shrugged. She didn't like to go into it. The Captain waited outside while Bucky got cleaned up in the water closet down the hall, and then she followed him to the mess, where breakfast wasn't much more skillfully prepared than dinner had been, but at least it was hot and there was more than enough left. Just seeing Sergeant Duffy coming towards them, though, caused her stomach to clench and her appetite to dwindle. He was going to find something to yell at her about. She was going to end up weighing about ninety pounds if she had to keep working with him._ _

__“Captain Rogers!” He tossed off a salute that was technically correct but managed to be dismissive at the same time._ _

__“Sergeant. Good morning.”_ _

__“I see you found Corporal Barnes. Good, she can glom- I'm sure you'll find a better use for her, sir. She certainly can't file worth a damn but she might be a decent moral booster for the guys who aren't that picky.”_ _

__“Don't hold back, Sergeant,” Bucky said, buttering a piece of toast. Okay, sometimes her mouth got her in trouble. “Tell me how you really think.”_ _

__“Are you going to let her-”_ _

__“Yes,” Captain Rogers said. “Sergeant, were you born in a barn,talking to a lady like that?”_ _

__“She ain't a lady, she's a WAC,” Duffy said. Captain Rogers stuck his arm out to gently block Bucky from throwing a punch. His arms were so strong and firm, she wondered what they'd feel like wrapped around her waist._ _

__“We're done here,” the Captain said. He led her away from the men. “Barnes, let's find the nurses and see if they have an empty bunk.”_ _

__“I wish he was the man we could release for combat,” Bucky said. Captain Rogers actually laughed at that one, although he tried to cover it with a stern cough. She liked him, he had a goodness about him, on top of being pretty, that had Bucky figuring it wouldn't be so bad, if he asked her to scratch his back._ _

__“What about you, Captain? Do you need a release?” She slipped a little bit of a purr into her voice._ _

__“I need to not answer that, Corporal,” Captain Rogers said._ _


	2. Chapter 2

“Other than the rude welcome, how do you like England?” The Captain asked. 

“It's just,” Bucky said, “It's just that I thought I was here to do something specific. If they needed general support, wouldn't I have come over in a group? But I was-I was requested specifically.” After being plucked from her WAC base for a battery of strange tests (physical fitness, weapons handling, intelligence, psychological) conducted by a mixed group of government officials and representatives from the different branches of the service. She had been measured, photographed, and filmed while reading a random story out loud. There had been other women taking the tests, but one by one they were dismissed,leaving Bucky the champion of the mysterious competition. Then, in an unusually fast process, as in the very next day, fast, she was promoted and shipped off to England. She didn't even know how to be a corporal but so far most people had treated her rank as if it was merely a formality anyway, a female noncom didn't count as a real noncom. 

“Oh!” Captain Rogers laughed. “You're _that Barnes_.”

“I thought we'd already established that I'm Barnes, sir,” Bucky said. 

“I'm so sorry, I didn't realize. I'm a little short on sleep myself. I didn't expect you to be so-”

“Female?” Bucky raised an eyebrow.

“Young and short,” Captain Rogers finished. “Basically, you were brought here to work with me, and a few other people, on a series of special projects and missions. That's why you were brought over by yourself. Part of the job will involve being a liaison with the public, and part of it will involve operations which require specific sets of skills.” 

“Did you rehearse that?” Bucky asked. “It was kinda stilted.”

“Are you always a smart alec? Because you're cruising for trouble. ” But Captain Rogers didn't sound at all upset, he sounded _impressed_. It wasn't all bad, if he was not only going to be good looking but also the kind of commander she could joke around with. 

Before dropping her off in the nurses' barracks, Captain Rogers instructed Bucky to change into trousers, boots and a different shirt and to meet him outside in three hours. He also gently ordered her to take a nap (Bucky had no intention of taking a nap, she wasn't some sort of baby, she needed a shower and she needed to do some warm ups). 

Bucky's new roommate was a tall, curvy brunette who introduced herself as “Agent Peggy Carter” in a clipped English accent. 

“Agent?” Bucky asked. Bucky began changing into her fatigues and boots as the other woman talked. "I thought I was the only woman here not a nurse." 

“I started as a nurse with the RAF. The government wants all unmarried women over 21 to join a service, so you'll have more company, we get groups passing through for training. Now I work with the SSR, that's why my title is "Agent" Carter. The SSR is The Strategic Scientific Reserve. It's the Allied division you'll be working with, special tactics and experimental weapons. We've been looking for a partner for Captain America for quite some time.” 

“Captain Rogers is _Captain America_?” Bucky gasped. She loved his movies, but he always wore a mask or a helmet and she'd never seen him in a regular uniform like he was wearing when they met. 

“Oh yes,” Agent Carter replied. “It was very important that you not know the connection until you signed the non disclosure agreement and arrived safely on base.”

“I know I”m good, but why would they want a girl?” Bucky asked. _Why_? How could an eighteen year old girl be valuable to the war effort? Back home, no one seemed to think she could do anything. 

“Well,” Carter said gently. “It is a little bit propaganda. You're to help inspire women to keep strong for their husbands and if they don't have husbands, to join the service. Children are going to look up to you. But you'll also be an excellent tool for espionage, the enemy won't suspect you or see you coming and you'll easily be able to access places big, scary looking grown men can't.”

At 1400 hours, Agent Carter, “Peggy”, escorted Bucky to the large bunker on the other side of the base, where Captain Rogers was waiting to introduce her to the SSR. 

“Did you enjoy your nap?” He asked after they exchanged salutes. 

“Oh, I had so much to do, I skipped it.”

“I thought,” Captain Rogers said, “that I told you to take a nap?”

“But I-

“This isn't some sleepy base on the homefront, Corporal. This is a war zone and we're headed for the front lines. Out there, sleep is gonna be a precious thing.” Apparently, his voice slipped into a rougher, more relaxed and working class New York accent when he was annoyed. It was very attractive. 

“I'm sorry, sir.” Bucky felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. She'd only been working with him for a day and she was already a disappointment.

“Just try to do better.” 

Agent Carter glanced at them with a secretive smile before striding ahead.

“I hope you don't think I'm angry with you,” Captain Rogers said. A guard on duty at the door saluted them as they passed into an elevator. Bucky began to feel _important_. 

“I don't, sir. I don't.”

“But I want us to start out on the right foot, I expect you to be more responsible in the future."

"I will. I haven't been a noncom very l-" Bucky's mouth fell open when they stepped from the elevator into a huge room full of typewriters, radios, charts, and bustling noise. A big stylized bird decal was painted on the wall in front of her. A man who looked like Clark Gable if Clark Gable was covered in soot, raced by with a fire extinguisher. 

"Hey, Cap. New Bitty Cap."

"Don't call me Bitty Cap," Bucky said automatically before she realized that had been Howard Stark, the millionaire inventor and industrialist. 

"Welcome to the SSR, Corporal Barnes," Peggy Carter said. "Would you like to see the sketches for your new uniform?"

About a month later, Steve Rogers drove into the village to take advantage of what passed for weekend amusements there. It wasn't much, but it was a relief to get off the base for a few hours. He browsed the local bookshop, which had a second room where they sold French postcards, erotic novels and showed blue movies every Friday at lunchtime. Steve had gone in to look for a few spicy mystery novels, but loneliness pulled him through the curtain into the secret second room. He glanced through the stacks of nudie postcards, and the sexy comics. One book in particular intrigued him, a photo book consisting of pictures of different couples having sex. The first photo story was called _Taming the Bad Girl_. Only the man's body was visible, his face hidden by the angle of the camera. He was in his underwear. A small brunette was bent naked over his lap, as if she was a naughty child being chastised, her perfect bare bottom pointed at the camera, and all her womanly parts exposed. Steve shivered, the pale skin was marked with a man's handprint. There were more pictures on the next few pages, all of the same woman in increasingly sexual poses, many of the poses were humiliating and involved her arms or wrists or ankles being bound. The later photos were too much for Steve, too sadistic, he would have liked to see a picture of the man reassuring the girl after, some sense of affection and relationship, but the first few in each story turned his crank in a way he hadn't expected. He was inescapably excited and also deeply ashamed, blindsided by how much he liked the pictures. 

The brunette model reminded him of little Corporal Barnes. It was a train of thought he needed to put the brakes on immediately, he was her commander, it was bad enough, being attracted to Barnes, he was sick to compound it with such degrading fantasies. But he bought the book anyway, nights alone in his room in northern England were lonely and cold. He was perfectly capable of maintaining professionalism. 

“Captain, hi!”

She was coming out of the drugstore (they called them “chemists” here, which made Steve picture bespectacled scientists hunched over glowing green things in tubes) and throwing a cute little salute at him. He returned it, because she'd already seen him and there was no running away now. She wore civvies, a navy blue wool cardigan from which a yellow checkered shirt collar peaked out, a blue and yellow pleated plaid skirt, knee socks and a yellow ribbon tied around her brown curls. She looked her actual age, so young, too young for him, he felt a wave of nauseated guilt at the sight of her penny loafers. 

“You like to read,huh, sir?”Barnes asked. 

“What?” Steve said dazedly. Barnes gestured at his shopping bag. 

“Your books.”

“Oh, yeah. I picked up some Raymond Chandlers.” He knew he was blushing, he'd never been good at dishonesty. 

“I used to like Nancy Drews but... they don't have any sex in them so that bookstore probably doesn't have any for sale. Hey, since we're both here, you could buy me a drink.”

And that's how he ended up buying Corporal Barnes lunch at a table by the fireplace at the Two Ravens pub. Over porkchops and mixed vegetables and ciders, he learned that Barnes was an orphan, and that she'd been in the custody of a Colonel whose wife had been determined to make a proper lady out of her. 

“But she just kinda stopped caring after awhile,” Barnes said. “So I did what I wanted.”

“And what you wanted was to join the Army?” Steve asked. He couldn't get drunk anymore, but the cider was soothing, , and Barnes was very pretty lit by the fireplace. 

“Well, why not? I didn't know anything else. I wanted to be a part of something, I wanted to be like my dad. Of course, I had to wait but I made do in the meantime. Had a little business on base, trading stuff the guys wanted. I'm good at finding stuff,” Barnes said proudly. 

“Now, that's going to be useful,” Steve agreed. “Not just for candy and dirty magazines. We could be stuck in some French village crawling with Nazis and I bet you could charm anyone into giving us a car.”

It was pouring rain when Steve paid the check and they stepped out of the pub. 

“Let me drive you back,” Steve insisted. He guided Barnes to the parking lot behind the pub, where he'd left the car earlier that morning. He held the passenger side door open for Barnes. “Here, put your bag on the floor.” Steve reached out to move the drugstore shopping bag away from the gearshift. A collection of prophylactics tumbled out. The Army had tried to supply them to WACs, Steve remembered reading about the controversy over it, but how many could a soldier need that they'd have to supplement with visits to the drugstore? As too many people already joked , Steve didn't date much, but it seemed excessive. Maybe the WACs weren't being issued condoms anymore and had to go out and pay for their own. 

“If any of us get pregnant, it's an automatic discharge,” Barnes explained. She hurriedly shoved the condoms back in the bag, her face set in an embarrassed frown.

“Well,” Steve said. “I suppose it's smart, to take precaution when you're living with two hundred men, half of whom haven't been with a woman in weeks.” 

“Did you ever think,” Barnes said, “that it works the other way around too?”

“No, I guess I didn't.”

“ I can make a choice to fool around. Girls want it too. We have _needs_ and _urges_ too. We just can't tell you that. None of those boys back in Camp Lehigh would have given me all those presents if they knew I'd have done it for free.” Barnes smirked. 

“Barnes...” Steve stammered. He didn't want to know any of this. 

“Now I can thank you for being so _nice_ to me when I first came here.”

“ _Barnes_ -”

“Call me Bucky, sir. We can go somewhere more private?” She pulled her skirt up, exposing her bare thighs, just hinting at the secrets under her skirt, leaning back and glancing at him with faux shyness. That small, unsure waver in her voice on 'sir' made his cock start to swell despite his desperate need to not have that happen and knowing she was probably faking it because she thought he wanted to ruin her innocence. That was the last thing he wanted to do. 

“ _Bucky._ Bucky, I'm your captain. I'm protective of my guys. It's my job to make sure my men can work together, it's my job to keep you all safe and I don't like bullies, that's all. You're just a kid, it's time I drove you back to base.” He hoped it sounded as kind as he wanted to be, as he turned the engine and drove toward base. Bucky turned her body away, staring unhappily out the window.

“Captain Rogers wouldn't fuck me.” Bucky was curled up in her bunk, hugging a pillow, so mortified she thought she might throw up. “An now I have cramps on top of that.” It was honestly no wonder she was horny. 

“Your superior officer refused to take sexual advantage of you, that must be very upsetting” Peggy said sarcastically. She sat on the edge of Bucky's bed, folding Bucky's navy blue sweater in her lap.

“But I looked real pretty,” Bucky mumbled. “ I wanted to thank him for being so nice to me.”

“But you don't have to do it that way,” Peggy said. 

“Then what way am I supposed to do it? Did I move too fast and should've started by asking to suck him?” 

Peggy sighed. 

“Perhaps he thinks you offered your body because you don't value yourself. I don't mean that he thinks you're dirty, it's his job to keep you safe and clearly your previous CO didn't. He could get in trouble for taking you up on your offer, and Captain Rogers is the sort of man who would actually worry about that.”

“Oh,” Bucky said. “I don't know a lot of guys like that, a real gentleman. Guess I didn't think this through.”

“Captain Rogers has a naive and romantic view of sex. You need to show him that you value him for himself, not only his body or the protection his rank will get you. _Be his friend first_. Like most men, he may not think that's what he needs from you but he does.” Peggy petted Bucky's curls. “And try to pay him back by showing everyone he was right to have faith in you, and you'd be more likely to turn his head. "

“How do you know all this stuff about him?”

“We tried to date,”Peggy said. 

“Tried?” Bucky asked.

“We turned out to be incompatible, we're both too dominating. Steve- Captain Rogers, respects women and thinks of them as equals but he needs someone softer and more accommodating than I'm capable of being. Now, let's get you some tea, and a hot water bottle for your back. Do your breasts hurt too?”

“Yeah,” Bucky confessed. “ _Like the dickens!_ ”

“I'll show you a way to help with that.”


	3. Chapter 3

The costume consisted of a blue double breasted jacket with brass buttons, a knee length skirt of the same color and fabric that flared out a little, matching reinforced gloves, a pair of bright red tights and a pair of calf high blue boots. Bucky turned around and around in front of the full length mirror, watching the skirt twirl and making superhero poses. The outfit came with a little black domino mask, and when she put it over her eyes, she instantly felt different- a new, stronger, more powerful person. This Bucky Barnes didn't have to be all those things she was angry about and ashamed of, this Bucky Barnes was no one's “camp mascot”. 

“Lose the skirt,” Captain Rogers said from where he lingered in the doorway. Bucky gasped, how long had he been watching her? She half hoped he'd been watching her change, there was something thrilling about letting him see her while she pretended not to know. 

“I thought you'd never ask,” she replied with a grin. 

“No,” he blushed, “I mean, a skirt is going to get water logged, and torn on bushes, you need trousers. Like the ones you wear for training normally.”

 _Killjoy_. 

And later, he said “that is not what I meant” when she showed up for their first photoshoot in a pair of tiny blue shorts she'd helped design. 

“They make my legs look sooo good, and my _ass_ ,” Bucky said. 

“I don't want a bunch of creepy men staring at your legs,” Captain Rogers protested. “Or your...other bits.” 

Didn't he know how much women loved looking at him in his tight tight TIGHT costume? Or that men would look anyway? Men had been looking since before it was appropriate, and no matter what she was wearing, so Bucky figured she might as well be in their face about it. But Bucky gave him the Sad Puppy Eyes and he agreed to let her wear them for photoshoots and other public events as long as she wore “real pants” on missions. 

Bucky had gone back to her train compartment early, to try and get some rest before their arrival in London but she couldn't sleep. She was sitting up in her uniform, reading by the light of the faint lamp over her bed when there was a knock at her compartment door. Captain Rogers was on the other side, hat in hand. 

“Just wanted to see how you're doing,” he said with his usual dazzling smile. 

“I tried to nap but I can't seem to,” Bucky admitted. She gestured for him to take a seat on the other bed, which was close enough that their knees almost touched. Bucky was glad she didn't have to share the room this time.

“Are you going to be alright?”

“I think so,” Bucky said. “I don't scare easily, sir.”

“I think you can call me Steve,” Captain Rogers said. “In private if you feel like.” 

“Okay, _Steve_.” Oh so that's how it was gonna be. Bucky smiled, and moved closer, brushing her nose against his ear. He pulled back like he'd been burnt. 

“ _Whoa_. I didn't mean-”

“Right, you didn't mean. That's why you came to my bunk at night, alone, and asked me to call you by your name,” Bucky sighed. If he hadn't been planning to try something, he must be an idiot about women. It would have been okay, more than okay, if he wanted to try something but he seemed determined not to admit that he _wanted_ to try something. 

“I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression. We're partners now, we can't be f-formal and I-”

Not formal, huh? Bucky grinned and hit him with a pillow. He gasped in shock and then hit her back with another pillow, soon it was a full blown pillow fight, complete with shrieking and giggling, which ended with a breathless Steve pinning a panting Bucky to the bed, big hands clamped around her wrists. He was so heavy, and so big on top of her, it was both wonderful and a little scary. Neither said a word as the train rolled on into the night. Bucky bit her lip, and lifted her leg to rub her thigh against his. 

“We can't,” Steve moaned. 

“Maybe you should go,” Bucky whimpered. She already felt wet. His blue eyes widened when he pressed his hand between her legs to discover the same thing. 

“I-I need to go.”

“So, uh, so g-go,” Bucky said. He didn't, for a full minute before groaning and pulling away to stand up. Bucky saw Steve discreetly press his fingers to his nose, he was smelling her essence, and he gave a shuddering little sigh before he turned to the door. 

“I'll see you at breakfast, Corp- Barnes- Bucky.”


End file.
